Sales Managers: 4 Trends to Adopt in 2017

In an ever-changing technological landscape, sales teams and their managers have had to adapt to new ways of working. And as prospecting and sales processes change, so do the tools: many sales departments have implemented a new CRM system over the course of the year.

August will allow you to briefly catch your breath, but stay connected: here are the 4 sales management trends for 2017-18.

Boost your Sales Cycles

If 2017 allowed you to lead change within your sales organization and familiarize it with increasingly connected tools (CRM, social selling), 2018 should enable you to optimize their use to accelerate your sales cycles.

CRMs simplify sales processes, both for sales reps and for prospects who can now hunt for information before contacting companies. Furthermore, most CRMs allow you to locate your prospects on the customer journey, and to identify leads ready to make a purchase. Outpace your competitors by leveraging your customer data in real time!

Embrace Sales Intelligence

CRMs and marketing automation are only the tip of the iceberg: in reality, you need to train your team on sales intelligence.

This branch of business intelligence brings together all the tools and practices designed to collect and analyze relevant customer data for your business and its operations.

From prospecting to closing sales, sales intelligence simplifies sales processes by contextualizing each sales rep’s interaction with their client: what does the client need? Are they among the decision-makers (or buyers) in their company, if it’s a B2B offer? How do they position themselves on the company’s typical sales journey?

Your sales reps will no longer have to rely on their intuition to answer these questions: sales intelligence tools will do it for them, based on reliable and relevant data.

Deploy your Sales Force Globally

The conclusion is undeniable: traditional work models are disappearing rapidly, in favor of models promoting autonomy and independence.

This is particularly true for remote work, which now allows some employees to perform their professional tasks from home. The expansion of coworking also reflects these profound changes affecting the world of work.

Rather than fighting against these new forms of organization, leverage them to your advantage by recruiting your sales reps worldwide—especially in countries where you distribute your offering.

Adapt to New Generations of Sales Professionals

Did you think Generation Y gave you a hard time? Get ready to welcome Generation Z into your sales teams!

Increasingly mobile, connected, and eager to get involved in projects they are passionate about, young sales professionals are far from done shaking things up. What if you leveraged these new profiles instead of trying to fit them into a mold?

Over to you: which sales management trends seem essential for fall 2017?

Other articles that might interest you:

• Human Inside: People at the Heart of Innovation at Orange
• Sales Intelligence: What’s the Future for Sales Professionals?
• Sales Directors: how to Best Prepare for August?
• The Sales Dashboard: an Essential Tool